Silver lining of tragedy..

It is sad fact but universally true.. Tragedies natural or man-made do happen.. However, after every tragedy we have something new or better which simply couldn't have happened without those tragedy happening.. This news clip reminded me of same.. I was in dilemma.. whether to express my thoughts on it or not.. mainly due to another natural tragedy in east coast by Sandy. Honestly.. I feel that this subject is so prickly.. by writing this, I don't want to look rude and materialistic.


Couple of things gave me courage to express my thoughts on this topic.. There was controversy around New York Marathon.. which was finally cancelled.. but arguments "for" and "against" this event were loud and clear messages.. I could also express my views openly..

In this article below.. it seems that there is big change in attitude of Japanese youth in particular.. I hope it results in some kind of revival in Japanese economy which is shrinking for last two decades. There are some really interesting and innovative ideas being executed by Japanese youth and hopefully something great will come out of it. Hopefully it will result in great entrepreneurship which hopefully will take out Japanese economy from the grip of large multi-nationals who are primarily engaged in production and exports..

More importantly, it should hopefully change culture of workaholism to enjoy family and spending money in and outside of Japan. Hopefully, Japanese youth will take it as a message and work harder on stopping 3-4 decade long population decline ;-) Hopefully Japan will work on better economic and political relationships with its neighbors and more importantly with China.

Now, adding Sandy into this mix.. Agreed, it has resulted in big financial loss.. and it will result in significantly higher insurance claim payouts.. However, all these tragedies are boon to these insurance companies, who get more new enrollments which essentially more than compensates these claims.

Only thing, which is absolute loss in these tragedies is life.. There is no replacement or compensation for the lives lost... We can't even think about human sufferings and pains due to lost lives.. I am not good in expressing myself in this area so I won't even go near to this area.

However, despite all the difficulties and loss and pain in east coast due to Sandy.. there is upbeat tone.. about economy.. everyone is expecting revival of local economy in next couple of years and hoping for even more stronger economy.. a real solid stimulus to that area which will definitely percolate to rest of the country and even to global economy..

New York Marathon became controversial not because of health or any other sentimental benefits.. or loss... at stake was simple 340 million dollars for local economy.. The number which was calculated by economists.. that New York City/State will benefit around 340 million dollars from the event.. Finally, human pain and suffering was weighed more than 340 million USD..

I was told by someone long time ago.. US has only (or let us say significantly) grown when either of these two things happen:

1. There is stalemate in Washington DC.. i.e. Government is totally ineffective.. 
2. During/After War or some other tragedy of National scale.. 

Off-course, it grows at fastest rate when both of the conditions are met together at same time..

There is gridlock in DC.. Which will hopefully continue as Obama is more or less sure to be back for second term. Sandy stamped his tenure extension.. I am sure Congress/Senate will still dominated by republicans. That should ensure this stalemate to continue. We are wrapping up war and hopefully finish it by 2013... at the same time Sandy is going to create mini stimulus to economy.. which all together should create perfect conditions for US economic revival.. That is the real silver lining which I am talking about!!!!  

AFTER THE 2011 EARTHQUAKE

Young entrepreneurs seize the day in Japan

Psychological aftershocks trigger new urgency among young professionals

By John Boudreau

jboudreau@mercurynews.com 

TOKYO — Before last year’s devastating earthquake, college student Tatsunori Hirota envisioned a life as a “salaryman,” one of the nation’s countless tradition-bound corporate foot soldiers in white shirts and black slacks who fill the city’s subways every morning and night commuting to and from nondescript offices.

But the psychological aftershocks of the disaster have created a new sense of urgency among a small but growing number of young professionals and college students like Hirota. They are abandoning the path of the corporate salaryman to chart their own way by launching tech startups and connecting to Silicon Valley.

“We lost family,” said Hirota, a Tokyo University economics student who, after the magnitude 9.0 quake, began studying programming and cofounded an e-learning website, Mana.bo, that received positive feedback from Silicon Val­ley venture capitalists after he visited the Bay Area over the summer. 

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LIPO CHING/STAFF PHOTOS

HEALING: From left, Ken Iwasaki, Emi Tamaki and Masaaki Sugimoto of H2L created a device to deal with hand injuries.

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HELPING:

Dan Nagayama, above left, and Sid Umeda founded Dennoo, a measurable advertising platform.

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EDUCATING:

Tokyo economics student Tatsunori Hirota, left, co-founded the e-learning website Mana.bo.

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“We felt death closer than before,” he said. “Now we don’t want to work for the big company. We want to work for ourselves. The biggest risk is that something could happen to you before you do something you really love. It could happen anytime, anywhere.” 

Seismic shift 

The shift in attitude comes as Japan’s technology sector, once a rival of Silicon Valley, struggles to remain relevant in a global economy that is leaving it behind. Observers say Japan’s inward-looking and risk-averse culture has for years dampened the nation’s entrepreneurial spirit. In its 2010 report, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor ranked Japan lowest among advanced economies in terms of attitudes toward launching new businesses. It noted that Japanese were the least likely to consider becoming entrepreneurs. 

In the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami, which cost some 16,000 lives and triggered widespread power outages and radioactive leaks from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, there was a “shattering of trust in big institutions” across Japanese society, said Phil Libin, CEO of Mountain View-based Evernote, a provider of note-taking and archiving technology that has operations in Tokyo. 

That collapse of faith extended to large tech companies, many of which have broken with long-held promises of lifelong employment with mass layoffs. 

“The younger generation — their parents are getting fired from the big companies,” said Nobuyasu Kondo, an executive with Tokyo-based GNT, a Japanese mobile and gaming platform. “They realize if you work for the big company, you can still get fired. So why not take a risk and start your own company?” 

At the same time, Japanese realize their nation’s future prosperity and economy, surpassed recently by China as the world’s second-largest economy, is vulnerable in the global market, said Ted Yamamoto, a general partner at UTEC, a venture firm tied to Tokyo University whose mission is modeled after Stanford University, which long has fostered tech entrepreneurship among faculty and students. 

“It’s obvious the Japanese market is shrinking,” he said. “The population is shrinking. You bypass Japan to go to China and India.” 

Government officials, academics and industry leaders say that if the nation is to regain its technological mojo, it needs to jump-start an entrepreneurial culture, and that includes tapping into Silicon Valley. 

“To come to Silicon Valley, that is the dream of many startup companies and entrepreneurs in Japan,” said Yukiko Pollard, general manager of Tokyobased image processing software company Morpho, which opened a San Jose office this year. 

But young Japanese entrepreneurs face daunting obstacles. In Japan, there is nothing resembling the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Silicon Valley. And while companies like Mana. bo are able to tap into venture capital here for initial startup funding, there is a dearth of investors willing to spend the larger sums needed to fund deep research and development to prepare startups for the global market, experts say. 

“In Silicon Valley, you can get $20million (in startup funding) without owning a suit. In Japan, it’s much harder to raise money,” said Evernote’s Libin, a big fan of Japanese technological prowess looking to make investments in the country. 

Most Japanese entrepreneurs have no ties to Silicon Valley. Unlike Chinese and Indians, relatively few Japanese venture abroad for studies. Last fall, a mere 54 students from Japan were enrolled at Stanford, while 757 Chinese and 488 Indian students were on campus. So Japanese are far less likely to know people embedded in Silicon Valley’s startup culture. 

Beyond Japan 

But that’s changing as Japanese, from school students to young professionals, look beyond their borders for study and careers. And at home, there has been an upsurge in interest in learning English in a society that previously saw no need to speak languages other than Japanese, observers say. “Our embassy just put on a college expo and I can’t tell you the number of students who came up to me and said, ‘I would like to study at Stanford,’” said U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos, the former CEO of the powerhouse Palo Alto law firm Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati, which works with many Silicon Valley companies. “We are seeing more and more of that — Japanese having an interest in going to school in the United States, connecting with the Silicon Valley. Everywhere I go now, there is a lot of this type of discussion.” 

For sure, there is brainpower aplenty in Japan, whose engineering brilliance has never been in question. 

“The creativity of the Japanese people is as strong as it has ever been,” said Allen Miner, founder of SunBridge Partners, a Sunnyvale venture capital firm pursuing startups in Japan. “The Japanese are as ambitious as ever. Pretty much every Japanese startup founder is thinking about how to create a company that will thrive for 100 years.” 

A sense of rejuvenation was in the air recently at an informal networking cafe established by a Tokyo University student. The cafe, which includes a large blackboard for brainstorming, acts as an informal think tank for young people looking for change. 

Emi Tamaki, 28, said she dreams of participating in a new startup culture in Japan, an area with a high concentration of startups she calls “Silicon Reef.” 

“I want to make many companies,” said Tamaki, co-founder of H2L, a maker of a device that can be used to rehabilitate a hand injury through therapeutic movements controlled by a computer, or to teach someone to play a musical instrument by directing finger movements. 

Issei Takino, co-founder of Mujn, which makes software that aims to revolutionize assembly line robots, spoke with the brashness of a young Steve Jobs: “We can change the world.” 

Contact John Boudreau at 408-278-3496. 




LIPO CHING/STAFF H2L’s Ken Iwasaki demonstrates the principle behind the company's PossessedHand system. 

Come on.. electric cars are Future..

Oh.. Come on.. give me a break.. News like this break my heart.. All electric cars are the future of automobile. I am sure in next 20 years or even earlier, we will have battery stations just like gas stations today.. In these battery stations, you can buy "Charge".. by giving your discharged battery back and taking "Charged" battery and use it to drive further.. So instead of filling your gas tank you will fill in your battery tank.. This will be applicable only for long drives.. for daily commute, I am assuming your home or office parking lots will be good enough to take care of filling your battery with charge you need to drive.

Now, you can link it this "Charge" to any source you want. Unfortunately "Charge"created by thermal or nuclear or solar power plant doesn't carry it's signature.. so you can't really differentiate among them.. all the charges are same and equal!!

Another thing these morons need to consider is efficiency of producing this "Charge". If you think about it, why anything is cheap or expensive.. it is the ultimately cost of energy going into production or usage of that thing!! Even though we blame so much to Thermal Power plants for creating green house gases. True.. they do it.. but still cost is their electricity is lower due to fact that they do burn coal really efficiently thus creating cheap electricity. Same is true for Nuclear power plant..

Now when we talk about solar panel based power plant.. ROI of Solar power plant is still very low and it still takes more than 10 years to recover cost despite subsidies from government. What it means is that process of producing Solar power panels is expensive and production itself takes lot more energy (in some form or other... ) so it takes literally 10-12 years to recoup those loses or the electricity or energy consumed to produce them. I agree, over a period of time, their cost will go down thus increasing ROI for them.

Coming back to our main topic, Electric cars are the future of automobile.. whether you agree or not, electric care are most efficient in transforming energy and using it for human needs. You can't blame or find fault with the source of electricity produced to power them up. Market forces will take care of non-efficient power sources.

In US, share of Coal based power generation is already on decline. Most of the new power plants are either gas based or solar/wind. Which is great.. Power consumption is bound to grow.

Even with these newer and jazzier low power devices, it is bound to go up as number of these energy efficient devices is going up exponentially.. literally making mockery of energy efficiency all together.

Biggest problem our current power grids face is lack of Storage. There is no cloud storage available for electricity as in case of iPhone or iPad' iCloud. These battery powered cars, collectively, are going to provide this critical storage space to grid.

it really doesn't matter where the electricity is coming from.. I can guarantee that coal generated electricity will still be more green than the fossil fuel cars developed..

In case of nuclear power.. I agree, it is dangerous.. but which power source isn't.. Thermal power plants? are they 100% safe? accidents doesn't happen there? or Hydro? doesn't dam breach and flood and kill people.. Sooner or later we are going to hear that Wind turbine blades flew away and killed somebody.. Solar.. all the elements and chemicals gone into it.. doesn't they pose any problem to environment? everything has risk.. it is risk vs. rewards.. Nuclear.. still is one of the safest.. especially if we consider number of people died in or due to nuclear power plants Vs. people died in thermal power plants.. In case of Japanese nuclear power plant problem.. I would say it was unfortunate that event took place.. Also, I feel that Japanese companies are more hidden in nature and culture doesn't allow them to come forward and accept mistakes bravely.

Electric cars in Japan risk losing green sheen

Plans by the government to restart nuclear power plants cast long shadow

By Yuri Kageyama

Associated Press

TOKYO — Electric car owners who prided themselves on being green now find themselves in a bind as Japan’s government maneuvers to restart dozens of nuclear power plants idled after last year’s meltdowns. For decades, nuclear generation has been a crucial source of power here, but the tsunami-triggered meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant have spurred a debate over how to supply Japan’s electricity in the future. Long touted as a clean, zero-emission alternative to vehicles powered by dirty fossil fuels, electric cars are now at risk of being tainted by their association with nuclear. If, as is possible, nuclear remains a key source of power, “then the green image of the electric car will get bashed to bits, maybe to the extent it will be irreparable,” said Ryuichi Kino, who has written books on nuclear power and hybrid technology. “I have the feeling it’s quite possible that might happen.”

Ripple effect

Not long after the tsunami swept through the plant on March 11 last year, the government backed away from plans to lift nuclear power from supplying a third of Japan’s electricity needs to half. But Japan isn’t abandoning nuclear power altogether. Despite the Fukushima crisis underscoring its risks, the government wants to restart some of the nation’s 54 reactors after safety checks are completed.

Critics say the checks aren’t good enough, and the damage from the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl looms large, with the 12-mile no-go zone around Fukushima, as well as surrounding areas, likely to be contaminated by radiation for decades.

Composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, a longtime opponent of nuclear power, acknowledged he gets bashed as hypocritical by people on Twitter about appearing in advertising for Nissan Motor’s Leaf electric car.

Many are not aware that, because he lives in New York, he can get his electricity from a company that relies solely on wind power — a kind of business that doesn’t exist yet in Japan, where utility regulations remain rigid and closed.

“How we make electricity is going to diversify, with fossil fuel and nuclear power declining,” said Sakamoto. People should be able to choose the kind of electricity they want to use, he said.

Electric cars were proving a hard sell even before the Fukushima disaster. And their green image has a weakness since generating electricity, unless it’s from solar, wind or other clean forms, emits polluting gases. Nissan, an electric-car leader, has sold just 25,000 Leaf cars around the world since late 2010, including 12,000 in Japan. It is targeting global sales of 1.5 million electric vehicles by 2015 in conjunction with alliance partner Renault of France.

Corporate Vice President Hideaki Watanabe, who oversees Nissan’s zero-emission business, insists sales are on target and haven’t dropped after the March disaster. The nuclear crisis has highlighted that the Leaf can be a backup storage for electricity in emergency blackouts, he said.

What’s holding Leaf sales back instead are the lack of charging stations on roads and its relatively high price.

Leaf prices

The Leaf starts at about 3 million yen ($36,000) in Japan, after the 780,000 yen ($9,400) green subsidy. In the U.S., the Leaf sells for about $25,000 after applying a $7,500 federal tax credit.

Although the Leaf is now a front-runner among electric vehicles, Nissan faces competition from rivals that already offer them such as Palo Alto luxury maker Tesla Motors and Mitsubishi Motors of Japan with the i-MiEV mini car. Others have them in the works.

Some electric car owners remain undaunted. They don’t equate their nifty green cars with atomic energy at all despite widespread jitters in Japan about spewing radiation and the safety of what had once delivered a third of the country’s electricity. The deficit is currently made up by expensive oil and gas imports.

“Concerns about global warming are growing,” Internet retailing entrepreneur Norishige Namba said while attending a recent gathering for 140 Leaf owners in Tokyo. “We need to preserve nature.”

West on the way to Japan - Part Three-Final

Finally, we come to other side of Atlantic.. North America.. Surprisingly.. there are three very different major countries with different kind of economies..

Starting with Canada.. I guess "All is Well" in that part of north west.. Canada's conservative (as compared to its southern partners) economic policies coupled with sudden burst of energy related activities are giving boom time to the country.. and it is prospering like anything we are yet to see in west.. However, due to sever weather conditions, only very few brave people are willing to relocate to Canada despite several great incentives over there.. I think we all agree that Canada is not going to be Japan any time soon.. Except if Crude oil prices comes to less than $40/barrel.. Which is highly unlikely.. in case that happens, we will re-visit this country later..

Then comes the biggest fish in the West.. our dear beloved (or equally hated by many as well) United States of America.. Which has been biggest and strongest growth driver for long time in wild wild west.. Several things were on US side.. At least from beginning of twentieth Century.. Starting with great minds.. excellent democracy.. abundant resources.. very limited population.. relatively easy immigration policies.. almost none or very few direct hostile attacks... lot of hostile activities in rest of the world...  US took full advantage of all these and many other opportunities.. Very well executed and results were terrific.. It resulted in great infrastructure and US become super power of twentieth century..

But at the dawn of twenty first century (or even earlier) things started declining.. and multiple factors combined to accelerate this decline.. I would say most important was or still is... outlook and thinking of mass population..

if entire population starts following up mob phycology and starts following and taking dumb decisions.. then only GOD save us.. (but only if GOD exists??). It all started with blind wars in middle east and Afghanistan... wars without well defined objectives.. On one hand funds are being cut in schools and teachers are being laid off to save couple of million dollars a year.. on the other hand couple of billion dollars are being spent every day as if it is simple change... Even after spending more than trillion of dollars on these wars.. we are still not sure if we achieved anything or simply created more hatred and fanatism against US.. at the same time sacrificing limited resources on at this crucial juncture on these wars instead of schools and infrastructure of the nation..

At the same time, I would be very cautious and will be clear.. a decade of decline is very short time on overall scheme of things.. There is still lot of good things which can still take back this country to its glory days.. more importantly.. lot of those good or great things doesn't exist in rest of the developed world and even in many of so called emerging economies.. If US can bring its act together we still can change the course and bring things back to normal..

Coming back to Comparison with Japan.. USA is almost exactly opposite of Japanese thinking and culture.. US society is based on consumption.. consumption beyond our means..  However, Japan is more purely driven by exports, savings, manufacturing, work and work and work and work.. In Software engineering terms, if US is R&D/Innovation and development then Japan is QA and Support (oops.. it didn't fit that well..). Though I feel that Japan was hurt more by Chinese manufacturing where as US was hurt more by Indian IT.. I guess, I am not making much sense.. so I will stop now on this.. but lastly, I feel if current condition of US can be compared to any one.. then it has to be UK.. UK was King of nineteenth century and it ultimately lost its prestige and wealth in Wars.. US is almost on same path.. unless we change our course fast enough and focus on our internal situation.. but challenge is that all the economies of world are so tightly integrated that if one country sinks.. it will sync rest of the world as well..

On internal issues.. Any country is on definitive course of decline and demise if their congress takes few minutes to pass budget/grants for wars/army and debates for weeks/months for grants to cash strapped schools and universities.. or sometime they never pass as well.. How bad congress can get when they can't even agree on cuts/spending of 10-15 million dollar where as result of that itself is loss of more than thirty million dollars per day.... loss of payroll and different projects.. What a bunch of morons!!! How careless they can be.. Had it been any organization, all these morons should have been fired or made to work late night till they figure solution to this petty problem.. These kind of examples show how bankrupt a country is..  and what is more to come..  enough of blah blah..

West on the way to Japan - Part Two

In first or original article about this, I focussed on Japan itself.. Why Japan is or was reference point for sagging economy.. What are the japan's issues and what could be some creative solutions from my side to solve this problem.

In this one I will try to jott down my views about one part of the west which is also called Europe.. or some times we call it PIGS with love. and then there is rest of the Europe excluding PIGS.. Primarily composed of countries like Germany, France, UK etc..

So, what was the driver for growth for Europe in past and present (if any..). I think in past, key to Europe's success was Industrial revolution supported by Colonial era from of 18th and 19th Century.. Then came devastation of World Wars in early part of 20th Century.. Which essentially devastated most of the Europe and especially Colonial Super powers.. It literally shifted wealth from Europe to North America. Once World Wars were over, some of the countries really worked hard and really leveraged their core expertise and knowledge.. Germany is one such example.. it was left in rubbles after world war II. Still it prospered as it has to prove back their dominance in any field other than military. But mostly rest of the Europe lagged and continued to bleed..

Some great countries like Britain and France, took mostly services route and lagged in industrial leadership other than few niche areas. Many other countries like Italy, Portugal, Spain etc.. didn't find any key area to prosper.. also.. most of these countries were small in sizes and they literally stuck to their culture and language to such a extent that it was difficult to do any significant trade with them..  Many of these countries relied primarily on Tourism and services for their livelihood.. With no real manufacturing growth it was dependent on rest of the world's growth and success.. If rest of the Europe or World grew exponentially they grew to certain extent.. if Rest of the Europe or World hit recession, these countries hit major recession.. Resulting in slow but definitive demise in their real national power and growth engine..

Then came final nail in the coffin in form of CDO by great minds of New York/Jersey.. After 9/11, our great leaders like Bush/Cheeney and Mr. Greenspan tried to grow US by going to war both in Middle east and in economic front.. This led to world's biggest property bubble which took many of these empty economies of Europe initially up and then down when it bursted.. In Europe, Germany literally took US role of lending and fueling this bubble and then forcing these countries to accept IMF conditions to pay itself back..

Okay.. If you have read my previous article about Japan.. I feel that conditions are literally opposite here in Europe. As European's are addicted to more vacations and less work.. They thought they will be rich forever whether they work or not.. Irrespective of how much loan they take to feed themselves.. there will always be some one to rescue them or most likely they won't even reach to this bad condition.. Now, Euro made matter even worse.. It tied individual countries to rest of the Europe that it literally made it impossible for them to fail ALONE...

So what are the solution to this mess in Europe.. is there any???  Let us take a shot at them.. First of all, let us divide Euro.. and make Something like Peuro (PIGS Euro) for the countries who don't take care of their Pig--gy bank accounts.. Kick these Pigs out of Euro.. There will be some blood or may be lot of blood every where in Europe but it will be just one time instead of current slow death by slow bleeding mode..  Then, ask these countries to do what they can do best.. I can't think of anything else other than tourism.. These PIGS should really work hard on educating their population in different languages like English (or may be not), Chinese, Hindi/Telgu/Tamil etc. Also, instill some more hospitality culture in population and over emphasizing on how important these guests are to their nation..

Lastly, they should fix their labor problems.. Employees are paid to work.. not to take vacation.. Easily cut all the benefits and vacations and holidays to Half of what it is right now.. Let them work hard.. one are the days of free lunches.. hey.. may be start some exchange program with Japan so both the sides can benefit from each other's strengths and Weakness..

West on the way to Japan??

Recent cover page of Economist compares US and Germany (and west in general) to Japan.. or at least saying that West is on the way to Japanese style of economy... as most of us know that Japanese economy is shrinking for last decade or so and is not able to jump start despite all the efforts by Japanese central bank or government.

Later on I realized that this article was becoming too long.. so I will do it in installments... In this part we will focus Just on Japanese problems and my magical solution for them :-)

Well.. first I would like to take "West" in General comparison to Japan.. I totally disagree with the comparison... May be end result is comparable but fundamental reasons are quite different.. They both are fundamentally different economies with different set of problems and needing different set of solution.. actually they are kind of complementary to each other..

Let us take Japanese economy in brief.. Japanese economy is burdened by extra hard work and extra savings by Japanese.. Surprised!!! excess of everything is bad.. but this is reality and fact.. Due to extra workaholic nature of Japanese they didn't had/have time for family and resulted in shrinking and aging native population.. Due to vastly unique and different culture and language very few immigrants are ready to move to Japan.. On top of it, Japanese have extremely thrifty and have great habit of saving and not spending.. All this literally killed Japanese growth engine which was mainly driven by exports... Exports are still there but kind of matured or facing threat from other emerging nations like BRICK.. On top of it, Manufacturing is like Sacred Cow for Japanese.. and as a result, Services (including Software Development) were totally left out by Japanese to be conquered by US and emerging economies...

So what could be possible solution for this mess in Japan... Easy.. at least on paper or in theory.. few very fundamental changes.. Make Over time illegal in Japan.. Any one who is caught working more than 40 hours (okay.. let us say 50 hours for Japan) a week.. they will be forced to do shopping and buying for double the time they did the overtime.. You should see that, I haven't included drinking and eating.. that Japanese men do any how.. Well.. this will force them to spend.. Whom on they will spend.. hopefully for their families or girl/boy-friends... When they will spend more time and money on families and friends.. they will automatically simulate economy by increased consumer spending and also hopefully by increasing population.. also.. as overtime will be illegal.. in immediate future.. Japanese companies will be forced to hire more workers and may be get immigrant workers.. and then further solving unemployment and aging and decreasing population.. I am open for other creative solutions if you have any.. I don't want to say it.. but I think this earthquake is also blessing in disguise for Japan.. I hope they will realize value of life and it will give them jolt to change their habits and start enjoying more.. apart from lot of spending to rebuild the great nation..